Najaf Mazari, Robert Hillman and Naldo Rei

By Pete Dillon

Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman have brought Najaf's story to the world, a story of his life as a refugee from Afghanistan to his incarceration at Wooera detention centre. East Timorese activist, Naldo Rei joined Jon Faine and co host Zoe Warne to dicuss his life as a resistance observer in East Timor from childhood through to now.

Robert Hillman is a writer who deserves to be as well known as Winton or Grenville. He is a superb stylist and his unusual book, The Boy In The Green Suit, deserved to win the Australian National Biography Award in 2005. Now, quietly furious about the Howard government's treatment of refugees and determined to put a human face to the hardships endured by refugees, he has found an Afghani rug-maker, Najaf Mazari, and crafted his personal story into a moving tale of courage and tenacity. This is the story of how Mazari, when confronted with persecution and possible death at the hands of the Taliban, decided to leave his wife and young child, flee across the border to Pakistan, make his way across the Indonesian archipelago, catch a leaky boat, reach Darwin and then be buffeted by the overtly political and less-than-happy experiences of being transported to Adelaide and the refugee camp at Woomera before being recognised as a legitimate refugee, settling in Melbourne and finally bringing his wife and child to Australia.

Naldo Rei was six months old when Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975. His father's family contained generations of traditional kings, the liurai, and when his father replaced his grandfather as king in his village, he acted against tradition, freeing the villagers and giving them land to farm. At a very early age, Naldo learned that freedom from independence meant independence from any form of oppression. Naldo grew up in a family that was deeply involved in the resistance movement - he spent the first three years of his life in the jungle, where the family had fled for safety - and his father was murdered for his political work. Naldo was recruited as a courier to the clandestine Fretilin network at the age of nine, working with its leaders and Falintil army leaders. Naldo Rei has a Masters degree in International Communications from Macquarie University. He has worked as a journalist and as the Prime Minister's media advisor in Timor and has recently worked for the UN in Dili as a media officer and advisor.